TOS The Alternative Facor, Shore Leave, and Friday's Child were also shot there. Enterprise 'Unexpected' Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers as the command center, Blazing Saddles, Army of Darkness, Planet of the Apes 2001 countless other shows.
Little known fact: this filming location sits at the very fringe of the border where film unions don't get paid extra money for travel. Which is why these locations are filmed so much.
I went on a pilgrimage to see the Rocks (just so happened a friend's wedding was in LA). The iconic sloped rocks, the road, and flat land in front is just the parking lot! Of course, one has to bring a Starfleet uniform and get a picture if one does go. :D
I still don't mind the Bill and Ted gag about the location, it's set up earlier in the film as the guys are watching the episode "Arena" earlier in the film so I feel it pays homage to the show and makes a joke out of reusing a filming location, shot for shot. Of course I can't help but laugh at STP using the location and proudly announcing that it is the "Vasquez rocks, present day" like that makes them smart or clever, fucking hacks.
Yeah, them literally spelling it out for people is so stupid. Plus in real life is a protected reserve. She wouldn't be allowed to park her house there.
living in a national park and then pretending to be poor and living in practically the slum of earth... if you think THAT is "embarrassing" girl then the future must be seriously awesome!
Just visited this location for the first time over the weekend! I should have watched this first to get reminded of the specific areas, but LOVED that it was free and that there was ample parking and space in front of the main/mostly used for filming rocks for cool/empty photos. Will visit again!
I think the first movie appearance just might be "Dracula" 1931, starring Bela Lugosi. It's been in countless westerns. Buck Rogers, Planet of the Apes (2001). Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I could go on and on and on but I have to admit... I was a bit disappointed to not see a certain Colonial Marine yell "Let's Rock!!" (no, it wasn't in the alien franchise)
The part that surprises me is how many times it was used in Star Trek productions. Like, you would think the fans would be pretty vocal about the fact that they have to keep looking at the same formations over and over, but I guess it was never really a problem.
1) I think most of the people that watched ST were casual viewers, not die hard fans. 2) back in the 80s and 90s you would be likely to miss an episode if you were out at the airing time, so many could have never noticed it 3) episodes aired once a week, there was no netflix style bing watching back then; so the viewers were simply prone to forget that a similar rock formation was shown. It's like with that alien city landscape that they reused in like 4 episodes, including a redress as a Klingon capitol. Only the nerds noticed :)
TOS had a way of making the future seem really far off, even despite the limitations of their sets. Kirk not even knowing what gunpowder is was a really nice example of that
im making plans to go at some point when i go to los LA next week since i wont have a car i hope lyft or uber will pick me up :) i have been wanting to go here ! for a long time ! airwolf and the show quantum leap were filmed here to !!
The most realistic planet sets were used in the 1960s, with the cardboard sets and deep green, orange, purple or red skies. TNG used those same sets in its early seasons. Then every planet became identical to Earth.
